McGraw-Hill Cuts 611 Jobs

Ouch. It always hurts to hear things like this. You can read the full story in Publisher's Weekly here.

But here's the part that got me. According to the article, the job elimination "reflects the shift toward the production of more digital products." What are they saying? That in the future, as more products are done digitally, it will take fewer people to produce them? This is a scary thought, indeed. I guess I had always been comforted by the thought that even though the method of delivery is changing, information is even more valuable now than in the past. I maintain that there will always be a need for people to edit and package information. But this is worrisome.

At the Prentice Hall sales conference, scuttlebutt has it that McGraw-Hill is cutting its independent sales reps who call on college campuses. I think this is a bad move. There will be vultures who will swoop in to take their place. I don't think you can sell as well over the phone as you can in person. So ultimately I think this will hurt them.